


Man's Best Friend

by neoneco



Category: Jak and Daxter
Genre: Gen, Lurker Pup AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-27 19:42:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6297598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neoneco/pseuds/neoneco
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jak, seven-year-old and resident rule breaker of Sandover Village, hears something strange one night on Sentinel Beach.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I love this AU. It's not much right now, but I'm really excited about it.
> 
> Jak, missing a dog he can't remember, finds a Lurker hound puppy in need of help one night.

Jak was on his own, for once, meandering across the silky soft sand of Sentinel Beach. He carried his foot wrappings in his hands and smiled at his bare toes, shifting the sand as he stepped. He didn't know what it was about it, but something in him unclenched at the feel of warm sand beneath his feet.

He treaded carefully in order to avoid the snakes hidden in the sand. They tended to burrow only in the loose, warm sand and they got very territorial. For the most part, Jak avoided them and they kept a sleepy eye on him, making sure he did.  
  
One in particular stared leisurely at him from its nesting place between the massive stone altars to the west of Sentinel Beach. It was a pretty good spot for a nest, Jak acknowledged. Only the fisherman made regular sacrifices to the Precursors, and he had the good sense to stay away from the wildlife’s habitat. Jak, who liked to follow the fisherman to his weekly treks to the altars, didn't mind it being there. He felt avoiding it was a small exchange for the ocean view, sparkling as it was.  
  
The beach had started to quiet down, and at that time of the day, it was both Jak's most favorite and most hated portion of it. Most of the animals had settled down, the ocean calmed its churning waves, and the sky glowed a lazy burnt umber as the sun set. Watching the dying light reflect off the tranquil waves, Jak couldn't help but feel he had forgotten something very important, and the feeling always carried with him through the night. Despite this, he couldn’t help but watch the sun go down every night nonetheless.  
  
In the hazy dimming light, and the ceasing of activity, it was just quiet enough for Jak to hear a desperate wail echo from the cavern up the beach. Jak's attention was drawn to it immediately, eyes searching for possible threats now that the sun had gone down. The small measure of peace granted at dusk was shattered earlier than usual; he didn’t have to wait for the nocturnal animals to come out or the ocean to begin its nightly onslaught.  
  
The sand was cooling with the lack of light from the sun; the sand snake gave him one last dirty look before it burrowed deeper to escape the rapidly cooling sands. Jak followed its example and hurried to rewrap his feet, feeling discomfited. He wished he had Daxter with him - it was always easier to be brave when Daxter was around, being outrageously scared. Jak suspected Daxter acted more afraid than he really was for just that reason.  
  
Jak stood and again he heard the high pitched keening coming from the caves. He hesitated, deliberating.  
  
Samos and his uncle would be angry that he was out so late and took such a long time to get home. If he investigated, he'd surely get yelled at.  
  
But, Jak was already late getting home, so he'd be getting yelled at _anyways_ . Besides, what if one of the villagers had gotten stuck in there? The old bird lady probably wouldn't be able to get herself free of a cave in, he reasoned.  
  
He heard Daxter's voice saying, "I don't like the look of that place." and, as determined to ignore Daxter's voice of reason as he would be if Daxter was actually there, he hurried towards the distressed moans, a new determination in his step.  
  
The cavern entrance was wide and it reminded Jak of a mouth mid-scream. The whimpers coming from it hardly helped the impression. He took a deep breath and waded into the muddy water of the cavern.  
  
He'd been in here before, right? There wasn't anything to be afraid of when he was there last, except maybe explaining the mud and sand crusted onto his clothes to his uncle. So there would be nothing to be afraid of now, he thought stubbornly.  
  
The wailing got louder the further in he wade, and it started to sound vaguely familiar. He squinted in the poor light, but he could just make out a figure, smaller than him, wiggling minutely against a mound of mud and sludge that had fallen on it. It was some kind of animal and if it hadn't been moving, Jak wouldn't have seen it. The mud on its fur blended right in with the mudslide that covered all but its mouth and front paws, making it nearly indistinguishable.  
  
It was breathing raggedly, and Jak immediately sloshed forward to help dig it out. It didn't seem to be even aware of him, too preoccupied and exhausted with getting free of the vacuum of sludge to become aggressive at his presence.  
  
Jak shoveled mud off of it with both hands, but the more he pulled away, the more mud and plant matter fell from the ceiling of the cavern. No matter what Jak or the animal did, it slipped and slid right back into the spaces they cleared. Jak didn't know how long the animal had been stuck in the mudslide, but he felt sure that if he left to get help from the village, it would be totally buried by the time he got back. The midnight tide would come in and flood the cavern, drowning the animal, and himself, if he didn’t get out of the cavern in time himself. He threw his whole body into it, digging determinedly.  
  
The animal's desperate huffing affected Jak, and soon he was breathing harshly alongside it. He wished he could say something to it, maybe to calm it down, but his throat closed uncooperatively when he tried to hum to it.  
  
_This isn't working,_ Jak realized, after what felt like an eternity of moving mud. For every handful of mud he moved, a bucket seemed to take its place. His arms were heavy with fatigue, and time was running out to help the animal. He had no idea how close to midnight it was, and he was too scared to leave the animal for even a second to go check. Water had started moving in the cave.  
  
Jak clicked his tongue at it, trying to soothe it with what few noises he could make. The animal slumped, momentarily exhausted. It tensed, but didn't pull away, when Jak started to run a hand across the crown of its head. It turned large tired eyes towards Jak and stared, warily, as he pet it.  
  
Large, tired, _yellow_ eyes.  
  
Jak swallowed the lump in his throat and continued to pet it gently. Even if it was a Lurker animal, he couldn't leave it alone here to die in the mud and by itself.  
  
_It's gonna be alright_ , Jak wanted to say to it. He wished he had Daxter with him to help him calm it down. Daxter always made him feel better.  
  
As Jak ran one slow steady hand over the animal's head, he ran another along its shoulder blades, wiping fistfuls of mud out if its fur.  He continued to make clicking noises with his tongue as he maneuvered both of his hands along the animal's shoulder blades.  
  
He thought, ‘ _This is gonna suck,’_ and _pulled_ .  
  
A pair of tremendously strong jaws clamped down on his left arm and ripped through his flesh like wet parchment. The animal became so startled and panicked, it had bitten him and held onto him, grinding down instinctually. Jak could hear his upper arm being crushed in the animal's maw, and threw all his weight into pulling the animal out before his left arm was rendered completely useless.  
  
A silent scream of exertion and pain huffing out of his mouth, the only other sounds in the cavern were the animal's wild and panicked growls and the _schlucking_ of the mud as it released its grip on the animal, finally.  
  
Jak felt dizzy with the pain, and could pull no longer - he collapsed in the dank water. The animal, free of its prison, leaned heavily on its front legs. ‘ _The mudslide probably injured its back legs_ ,’ Jak thought rather deliriously.  
  
The animal shuffled towards him and sniffed at the wound it had inflicted. Now that they weren't so busy, Jak could feel the inherent Dark Eco crackling off its fur.  
  
‘ _That must be what's making this bite hurt so much,’_ he thought distantly.  ‘ _It must've gotten Dark Eco in it when it bit me.’_

His mind flashed back to Samos’ teachings about Dark Eco, how Dark Eco poisoning was deadly in the best circumstances. He felt like he should have been more afraid than he was.

The animal whined at him, licking his arm. It probably meant to soothe the bite, but the Eco in its saliva made the pain worse, hot bursts of fresh agony running through Jak's body as it futilely attempted to channel the Dark Eco like it would with the other types. Jak started to cry.  
  
Any movement of his upper body made his arm twitch, and the tears began to flow down his cheeks in excess. He knew he had to get out of the cavern before the tide truly started to come in, but his body was paralyzed with the pain.  
  
The animal stopped licking him after several long, agonizing, seconds. It moved around his body, sniffing and nosing his filthy clothes before stopping by his neck.  
  
It carefully took a mouthful of his shirt and began dragging Jak out of the cave.  
  
Jak was a short boy for his age of seven years old, and the animal was barely to his knees in terms of height. It was favoring its front legs, which forced it to pull Jak by its side instead of backing up with it. Water started to pour into the cavern, and the animal struggled to get a grip on the slippery mud beneath it as it pulled.  
  
The process was slow going and Jak made himself hoarse, horrible creaking screams tearing their way through his throat. Rocks dug into his arm as the animal determinedly dragged itself and Jak out of the cave. The Dark Eco had started to spread itself through his arm and it seemed to only hurt more as time went on.  
  
They reached a place where the slippery mud and sharp rocks of the cavern transitioned to the wet sand of the beach, and Jak realized they must have made it out.  
  
The animal continued dragging the human further from the beach and Jak, exhausted physically and emotionally, finally passed out. _  
_


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone gets yelled at, but not the right person.

Jak jerked awake and Daxter, who had been shaking him, landed heavily in the dirt and grass.  
  
"Jeez, Jak, warn a guy!" Daxter grumbled, rubbing his butt ruefully. Jak stared, briefly, at his friend before looking around to get a grip on his surroundings. 

The sky was bright, and Jak had to blink against the sharp onslaught of the sun. The sun was just slightly off-kilter; it was just a little past midday. The ground beneath him was wet and earthy. The world was tinted green.

He was laying in one of Samos' Green Eco vents further inland on Sentinel Beach. The Green Eco collecter wheezed overhead. He didn't remember how he got there, but, Jak reasoned, he must have walked there. The reason he might have suddenly came back to him and, swallowing, afraid of what he might see, Jak looked down at his arm.  
  
His whole upper arm was swollen and puffy where the bones had broken, and his tricep was a lump of regrown bone mass just under the skin. The bite itself was scabbed in some places, but still oozing blood sluggishly in the the deeper spots. It was almost certainly infected, he thought, staring morosely at the gunk all over his wound. Considering how far up on his arm the Lurker had bitten, though, Jak supposed he should consider himself lucky it hadn't gone for his neck. Given that he had spent all night in a Green Eco vent and the wound was still so gnarly, Jak considered himself lucky he was even alive. The Dark Eco poisoning alone should have killed him.  
  
Jak scraped a little mud off of his arm and saw that the places the Dark Eco had touched had paled considerably, in uneven and unattractive blotches. It looked _wrong_ against his naturally darker skin, and the even darker mud. Jak's heart sank seeing it. There was no way he would be able to hide that from his uncle.   
  
Daxter was also looking at his arm. Or rather, the congealed mess of blood and organic sludge puddled beneath it. He narrowed his eyes but, for once, didn’t say anything. Jak was grateful.   
  
"C'mon," Daxter said. He helped Jak stand up, throwing Jak's good arm around his shoulders. Dirt flaked off of Jak with every tiny movement. Jak had to strain a little bit because of Daxter's height, but he was grateful for the help. His right ankle wasn't broken, as far as he knew, but it was extremely sore and he wasn't sure he would have been able to walk without Daxter's help.   
  
Jak was surprised when Daxter started leading him not to the village, as he expected, but to the beach.   
  
"Samos 'nd your uncle are gonna throw a fit if you show up covered in this crap, Jak." Daxter answered Jak's unformed question. Jak nodded agreeably; he hadn't thought of that, but it was very true.   
  
They walked slowly, but fairly steadily, to the shoreline. If Daxter saw the dark look Jak threw at the cavern, he chose not to comment on it.   
  
"Samos wanted me to look for ya. Said they thought you were with me the other night, but then Keira saw me talkin' to the fisherman without ya and mentioned it to Samos." Daxter said, trying at casual. He helped Jak out of his shirt and started scrubbing at it with the wet sand and clear ocean water. He gestured towards the water, and Jak obligingly waded in and started scratching the dirt off his arms and out of his hair, carefully avoiding the usage of his left arm.   
  
Jak couldn't get a good look at Daxter's face, but his shoulders looked tense. Jak frowned guiltily. If he felt bad for worrying anyone, it was for worrying Daxter. It'd only been a year since Daxter and his mother moved to Sandover Village, but the older boy had quickly become Jak's most important person.   
  
He splashed some water at Daxter. When Daxter looked back at up at him,  Jak signed, _I'm sorry_ . Daxter sighed and stopped scrubbing at Jak's hopeless shirt. Jak was reminded, very intensely, of Daxter's mother. They had the same beleaguered sigh.   
  
"It's okay," he said. Then he smiled. "It drives me crazy when you do stuff like go into the jungle with those creepy crawlies in there or stay out here all night in an Eco vent."   
  
Jak shrugged uncomfortably.   
  
"So what got all this crap on your clothes?" Daxter asked, probably sensing Jak’s discomfort. He squinted at Jak and said, "You missed a spot, by the way. On the left. No, my left. That whole... area." Daxter waved vaguely to the right side of Jak's body. Jak rolled his eyes as he considered the question.

He thought about that Lurker he'd helped. He knew at the time that Samos and his uncle, maybe even Daxter, wouldn't approve, but he couldn't leave it. It was injured when they got out of the cave; Jak could hear it whimpering. Despite that, it dragged him all the way out.

He hoped it was okay.

Jak splashed Daxter with water, again, to get his attention. _'There was an animal in the cavern_ ,' he signed to Daxter. ' _The tide was going to drown it. I helped it_ .'   
  
Daxter squinted at Jak as he signed.   
  
"Animal in cavern, dying of water?" he said. Jak nodded. "Drowning, huh? So, what, you tore your arm off trying to get it free or something? Jeez, Jak. We've gotta do something about this hero complex of yours."   
  
Jak shrugged a little and kept scrubbing his hair. He didn't think he had a hero complex, whatever that was.   
  
They stayed for almost an hour, scrubbing out his shirt, before Daxter declared it a lost cause and Jak, reluctantly, agreed. They cut their losses and started the trek back to Sandover. Getting to and from the beach always took Jak an hour at least, and that was on his own, uninjured. With Daxter having to slow his own pace to support him, it took almost one and a half hours to get back. By the time they got back to Sandover, it was late afternoon.   
  
Samos and Jak's uncle were waiting by the outskirts of the village for them, looking apoplectic and politely concerned, respectively.   
  
"Daxter!" Samos bellowed, turning the particular shade of brown he did when all the red blood in his body rushed into his green face. "What took you so long! You've been missing the whole day!"   
  
Jak, who chose to take the sage's lectures as a reflection of Samos' love and concern for him, felt ashamed of himself and found himself eyeing the ground. Daxter, who for some reason always took Samos’ raised voice as a personal attack, bristled.   
  
"Well maybe if you hadn't sent a _nine-year-old_ with the vague instructions 'he might be on the beach,' we woulda been back sooner!" he snarled back,  throwing his arms in the air.   
  
As they argued, Jak's uncle pulled him aside.   
  
"Are you alright, my boy? Nothing," here he paused and glanced uncharitably in Daxter's direction. Jak followed his gaze and saw that Daxter had started throwing punches and Samos was holding him back with a hand to his forehead, staying just out of reach. Samos had yet to end their shouting match. " _Untoward_ happened to you out there, did it?"   
  
Jak was uncomfortable with his uncle's implied insult at Daxter, and shook his head.   
  
"Good, good." His uncle said, vaguely. He started to guide Jak away from the scene Samos and Daxter were making, steering him away with a steady hand on Jak's shoulder. Jak looked mournfully behind him, briefly thought about struggling and running back to Daxter, and then, reluctantly, began to drag his feet towards his uncle's hut.

He glanced down at his bare arm and chest, and the Dark Eco discoloration seemed plain as day to him. Because of his and Daxter's fight, Samos was too distracted to properly inspect him for injuries. Jak didn't know if he should consider himself extremely lucky, or if he should thank Daxter for drawing Samos’ attention from himself. Maybe both wouldn't hurt? He'd talk to him tomorrow, Jak decided, yawning.

He and his uncle got home and Jak rushed through eating dinner so he could go to bed sooner. He was utterly exhausted, and his body was heavy with the strain of following normal body commands on top of maintaining his inner Eco balance. He barely got his filthy pants and foot wrappings off before he collapsed on the bed.

His uncle gave him a minute before poking his head in to make sure he was in bed. Jak blinked lazily at him when he blew out the candle.

“Goodnight, Jak.”

Jak fell asleep.


End file.
